“You don’t have to be great to start. But you have to start to be great.” – Zig Ziglar
Everyone has a story in them; it is up to each of us to find our story and write it down.
Our challenge:
Our challenge was not very easy but followed on from the second statement above. Everyone was asked to write down two ideas for a story. These may be used as prompts in the future, but the goal was to reinforce that we all have multiple stories we could write.
Discussion:
One of the issues we all have is finding time to write. I shared some information from Isabel Allende. She has written 21 books. When she is ready to write a new book, she always starts on 8 January. There was also an idea from the Australian Writers’ Centre to think about the “to not do” list that takes our time away from writing. Out of this I suggested that we should allocate a specific day and time in the week to write. Nothing will be allowed to prevent writing at this time.
Some of our Stories:
It was great to catch up on all the new stories. These are just a few of them.
The Elopement: This was my story used to point out good and bad aspects of writing. A young library assistant was tricked into helping with what she thought was an elopement but was really a planned kidnapping – fortunately it was prevented. Issues such as a good flow and an ending that wraps up the story were discussed.
Not to be Budged: Two budgies planning an escape which did not happen because it was too hot
Pie in the Sky: An elderly couple on a trip discover a quaint café and end up buying it
Pumpkins: A powerful story about the conflict between the mind and the physical capability for an elderly lady who could not do anything for herself.
Prompts:
Our prompts for our March class are:
- Henry looked guilty.
- Bill looked up at the flag to check the wind.
- Helena reined her horse back to a walk. She needed time to think.
Joy Shirley